On Wednesday, Warner Bros. Discovery said it will correct the changes it made to director and writer credits of its content library as part of its Max rollout this week.
Directors, writers and producers all found themselves lumped together in a randomly ordered ‘Creators’ section for listings of film and TV series on Max (formerly HBO Max) when the service launched on Tuesday.
After swift objections from the DGA and WGA, along with online backlash, Warner Bros. Discovery issued a statement late Wednesday indicating it will correct the credits and put the blame on “an oversight in the technical transition” from HBO Max to Max.
Now, Deadline reports that according to one insider, correcting the listings “could take weeks [to repair] with all the data that needs to be transferred, checked, finalized. It is not a simple as pressing a button.” Nor is it simply cutting and pasting old credits that existed on HBO Max.
The trade indicates a unit within WBD’s IT department created the catch-all ‘Creators’ listing to ensure that everything was in place in time for launch. That shortcut however reportedly wasn’t vetted by their superiors – so many of the top executives were said to be unaware of the fumble until the service was live and the criticisms began coming in.
Another streaming exec adds that the corrections have to be made not just for one database but for multiple depending upon the device: “From Roku to Apple and more, you have to do this platform-by-platform and that takes time. The number of platforms will be a determining factor in how long it’ll take overall.”
A spokesman for Warner Bros Discovery says in an issued statement: “We agree that the talent behind the content on Max deserve their work to be properly recognized. We will correct the credits, which were altered due to an oversight in the technical transition from HBO Max to Max, and we apologize for this mistake.”
